#blessing of the chrism

[sourryy]

id go for the somewhatmoderntimesbutnocellphones since i think the belief in vampires was bigger around the 18th/19th century

pondering about a small vampire hunter au

[ginandoldlace]

Today we celebrate the Dedication of the Cathedral Church (1910), a solemnity here in Westminster Cathedral.

To mark the occasion, 12 candle sconces are lit, marking the points where the building was blessed with sacred Chrism.

After a massive push to pay off all building debts in April 1910, the Metropolitan Cathedral could now be consecrated. This was planned to take place almost 15 years to the day after the foundation stone was blessed and laid in great pomp and ceremony on 29 June 1895, the feast of Ss Peter and Paul.

On 28 June 1910, the immense consecration ceremony took place, lasting from 7.30am to 3pm. Each of the 14 altars were consecrated simultaneously by Cardinal Bourne and the Bishops of England and Wales, with relics in silver caskets. There were also many Masses, processions and sung offices in the days before and after, ending on 1 July, the traditional feast of the Most Precious Blood, to which the Cathedral is dedicated.

Pictured here, from the cover of ‘The Illustrated London News’ (Saturday 2 July 1910), Cardinal Bourne traces out the letters of the Greek and Latin alphabets in ash, spanning the four corners of the Nave floor.

[lesorciercanadien]

Holy Week – La Semaine Sainte

Holy Week (April 13-April 19th 2025) – movable festivities

My favourite week when it comes to spirituality and activities to do! 

I started observing Holy Week in earnest in 2020, during our lockdowns. I remember my first observance as being one of anxiety, and a need to feel comfort. My practice helped me get through it, and I’m happy to share this special week with all of you this year. 

“Alleluia, Alleluia, L’carême s’en va, Il reviendra, À Mardi gras.” 

-cantique acadienne du Samedi Saint. (Halleluiah, Halleluiah, Lent is leaving, only coming back on Shrove Tuesday)

Palm Sunday (picture above: my front door's palm frond set up)

The week begins with Palm Sunday! I have memories of visiting my grandmother in Saguenay and she’d bring back palm fronds for us to weave. We usually wove them up in little beehive shapes and pinned them to our front doors for protection all year long, since they were blessed with Holy Water at the church service. Most churches have a basket where you can deposit the palm fronds of last year. These are burned and provide the ashes for the next Ash Wednesday. The fresh palm fronds can be used to weave little baskets, little beehives, or they can be cut to the proper length for a bookmark for your devotional books or Bibles. You can paint on them too! 

(features Acadian dialect terms for plants) Historically, Acadian communities like Chéticamp didn’t receive palms, it being troublesome to export to this isolated community in the Cape Breton Highlands. So, the faithful would bring cedar branches (thuya), club-moss (sévigny), juniper (chenave) or pine twigs (pruce) from the Highland mountains nearby. After being blessed at church, these tokens would be placed at the entrances of all buildings or assets on the property (fishing boats, cars, barns, and all rooms within the family home, even the cellar) for protection all year-round (1). If you want, feel free to find those plants responsibly and use them in your practice instead of palm fronds!

Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday and Holy Wednesday: usually has church services relating specific stories from the Gospel. I don’t tend to do much on those days. Honestly, I usually use those days to do some spring cleaning, prepare myself for the coming day’s rituals and festivities, and take some quiet time for myself to read passages, or bake for the coming holiday. 

Maundy Thursday (picture above, my own Holy Oils)

The beginning of the Paschal Triduum (begins on this evening, into Holy Saturday’s Vigil). This day commemorates the Last Supper. The Chrism Mass is celebrated on this day, where the Holy Oils are blessed for the surrounding parishes. While this Mass is celebrated privately by the clergy in the Catholic Church, I like to celebrate in my own way. In the way that this celebration brings together all twelve apostles, as a Christian witch, I spend time with my meal that day, pondering on the apostles’ gifts they each possess, I contemplate what that Last Supper must have been like, and I bless my own oils for my folk magic purposes. Holy Oils: the Oil of the Sick, the Oil of the Catechumens, and the Holy Chrism Oil. The Oil of the Sick is pure olive oil and is used to anoint a sick or elderly person on the forehead and hands with a cross, paired with special prayers. They can be administered in any time and place. This can have a powerful impact on the placebo effect of faith on healing and bring courage and strength to the ailing person. The Oil of the Catechumens, also olive oil, is used for many things. It is used to anoint those about to undergo the Sacrament of Baptism, both infant and adults. This is to allow to receiver to be prepared to receive the wisdom and strength to learn Christian lessons during their religious quest. It is also used as a protection oil to ward off evil spirits on a baptism initiate. The Holy Chrism Oil is olive oil mixed with balsam. This oil represents strength, and the balsam is known as ‘the aroma of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 2:15). This oil is meant to give the receiver the gift of the Holy Spirit, and to devote something to God’s service. This oil is also used to anoint the altar and vessels used during Mass, as well as during the ordination of a priest. Already, these oils can have many uses within an individual folk practitioner’s spiritual habits, such as dedicating oneself to a path, blessing the altar, the working tools for rituals, and yourself when you need to reset your faith. During Holy Week on Holy Thursday, otherwise known as ‘The Chrism Mass’, the local bishop blesses enough new oils for every parish for later distribution. To bless these oils, the bishop does them in order as listed above, says a prayer to bless them individually. To bless the Chrism Oil, the bishop mixes oil from the balsam plant with the olive oil, breathes on the mixed oil to signify the presence of the Holy Spirit, and then says a prayer to consecrate it. For the individual practitioner, if you want officially blessed oils from the church, many Christian shops sell amounts of them, but if you want to individualize your practice, feel free to bless them yourself for a day where you’re feeling sick, need extra protection, or need to bless your space once more. 

Good Friday

On this day, we commemorate Jesus’s crucifixion and death on the cross. It’s a day of sorrow and reflection. For my part, I like attending Good Friday services in my area, and I wear all black on that day. 

It is tradition to remain silent from noon till 3pm, to commemorate Jesus’s last moments of life, as he is noted to have died at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Families with young children would encourage the kids to pray or to go to bed for a nap, to ensure they remained quiet. My great-grandmother has memories of going through that silent vigil with impatience! For myself, I like to take time to light a candle at 3pm, while doing my best to remain quiet without distractions from noon until that time. In church, the priest would ensure the Sanctuary where the Tabernacle resides is empty of the Host, and the candle extinguished. The altar is laid bare of décor. I do the same. I empty my Tabernacle lantern of the Host and make sure I don’t light candles near it. I take off my altar cloth and décor, and lay a black pall over the entire cabinet. 

In some Acadian communities, if bad weather prevented the family from traveling to church, the family would set up a white cloth on the kitchen table, place the crucifix on it, and each family member needs to kiss it. Afterwards, the head of the family would recite from the Roman Missal. They also read their Way of the Cross (chemin de la croix) at home or in church. (2) It was also imperative to avoid butchering farm animals or go out hunting wild game on this day. Fishermen out at sea would do their Passiontide readings and note the direction from which the wind came from, for they knew that if they did so, the wind’s direction would remain faithful for the remaining year. 

Holy Saturday 

My all-time favourite spiritual and religious experience of the calendar year! I love it because I don’t think there’s any other day in the liturgical calendar where parishioners are expected to participate in as much as this day. It is meant to take the believer from the times of Genesis with the creation of all that exists in this world, to the first fire and the first waters, and translate that into the renewal of baptisms, the lighting of a new Easter fire, and the gradual lighting of all candles in the chapel to symbolise the growing victory of light in the face of so much darkness and death. All lights and church candles were extinguished since Thursday, and the only candle that will be lit is the Paschal candle, inscribed with this year’s date. I like to attend the University of King’s College Chapel services in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for this ritual, given the intimate chapel venue, the vibes of the clergy, and how lively it gets. We bring the Paschal candle outside and bless it with the fire from the Holy Spirit. We bless the baptismal font and the Holy Water inside, and a series of litanies and chants are done, as everyone holds a little candle in their hands, lit from that Paschal pillar. Once it hits midnight, the entire chapel lights up again, and all the bells chime loudly, announcing Christ’s resurrection. The choir bursts into joyful song, and it really is the most lively and impactful service. Partying ensues until dawn for us, with a feast of lamb and an array of dishes brought in from a multicultural scene. 

In Acadian communities, Holy Saturday celebrate their first midnight mass of the year (the other one being Christmas eve). From a small fire at the church entrance, parishioners light their own candles. Hymns of Halleluiah and joyful rhythms take the choir and congregation in song. I definitely want to see how these services are done in French, and one day, if I’m lucky, I’ll attend. 

Easter Sunday (photo above: the Saguenay River)

On Easter morning, before the sun comes up, many faithful in communities in Québec and some in Acadie would wake up and head over to the nearest brook to collect “l’eau de Pâques” (Easter Water). This coveted water would be known to heal certain ailments and protect against lightning. Often, it was noted as having the same virtues as Holy Water provided by a priest. It needed to be collected against the current of the brook, before sunrise. To do this journey was known to “voir danser le soleil de Pâques et aller au ruisseau quérir de l’eau de Pâques.” (to go see the Easter sun dance, and go seek out the Easter Water.) It was told that on Easter morning, the sun performs a dance as it rises, and that everyone should witness it at least once in their lifetime. (3) The sun is reputed to be brightest on that sunrise than any other time of year. In the south-west of Nova-Scotia, a formula needed to be recited while collecting this special water, “Bénie soit cette eau, qui guérit tous les maux.” (Made holy may this water be, to heal all ails.). This tradition still is practiced in the north-west of New Brunswick today. In regions of Québec and Acadie, it is paramount that parishioners and believers take at least one Eucharist mass between Ash Wednesday and la Quasimodo (the 2nd Sunday of Eastertide). It is known in those regions as “Faire ses Pâques” (Attend your Easters). Otherwise, you’d run the risk of becoming a loup-garou or have a damned soul if you skip seven years in a row.  

Feasts for Easter in Acadian communities ranged from a breakfast of as many eggs as one could eat if they were available, right down to home-grown chicken, wild game or salt meat. After a long March of dwindling cellar stores and not much meat left, families often made due with the remains of their provisions. (4) 

Sources:

Père Anselme Chiasson. Chéticamp, Histoire et Traditions Acadiennes. Éditions les Aboiteaux. 1972. p.214

Jean-Claude Dupont. Héritage d’Acadie. Éditions Leméac. 1977. p.77 

Ibid.,308

Jude Avery. Joie de Vivre – Love of Life: Isolated Acadians celebrate their culture through traditions and folklore. New World Publishing, 2021. P.28

[existencebringsonlypain]

instead of saying "bless you" to sneezes say "bless us". anoint us with the holy water of your snot. your chrism feeds us. consecrate us with your phlegm

[revelisms]

Excerpt: Renaming

Mariella guides Terzo through the Way.

From 'light ascending,' a Magic Ministry AU fic about a purification rite leading up to Terzo's papal ascension. Rating: T | CWs: Ritual magic, dark imagery. Full story on tumblr and AO3

The water envelops her steps with pinpricks of sensation, slow-slipped and glittering. It calls to her, sings to her: a vessel of endless possibility.

This is her Path. Her purpose. Her home.

Behind her, soon to be, her liege.  

She can hear his footsteps trailing the shadow of her own, his vestments a silken hiss off the water's edge. As it had for his predecessor before him, the cistern hums in its greeting: a millennia of lifetimes past stirred to welcome the presence of the Unholy, of its Keeper.

Hellfire bathes them with red. It sets an eerie glow to his undead eye, blistered in white and gold. For a breath, it's hard to remember that he is human, at all: that the light hasn't stained his skin in blood, taloned his nails with black, twisted his robes to wings claw-tipped and leather-thin.

At the basin, she pauses. He falls still with her—staring down, down at the ebbing coil of waters they come to stand beside.

His throat ripples. He sets his jaw, the dark lines of his lashes lifting. Mariella holds his stare like a rabbit eyeing a wolf from the weeds; like a cub before a lion.

"You've greeted me, in the Olde Way," she says quietly, "and, by Lilith's blessing, will be Renamed. Do you accept it?"

Terzo takes in a breath, nods. "Yes."

"To be the Gate's ward, now and forevermore, until you are called?"

"Yes," he says again.

"To be bound to your summoned, and your summoned only, until they are reclaimed?"

There's a forced calmness to his face, though she can sense the frustration beneath it: proof of battles she has not been privy to, and may never be. "Yes."

"Then we will begin."

First are the black candles—twin flames lit to represent the handed paths. She sets them on the footholds of the two pillars closest, crafting the symbolic Gate between realms, and speaks a low incantation. Then comes the oils, their vials a cold sting against her hands. Each mixture is strategically placed: drops of mugwort to his slow-lifted palms, a thumb-kiss of amber to each temple, the Chrism dotted at the crown of his head.

She can smell his magic, this close: awakened, shivering, unbound: the ashen smoke of a snuffed flame and the sweet tang of clove, spiked with a metallic edge. It has grown stronger since his Exaltation; ignited. It leaves her head heavy, her hands sluggish. There is Future on his breath, and Death in his eye. Beneath his robes, inked across the branches of his heartlines, a glimmer of snapdragon pink.

She fights to ground herself, for a moment. Her palm lays slow, slow upon his breast: feels the power in him straining at the seams.

"Astraeus—Nyx—Perun. These names have adorned you, before. With your Awakening, they will adorn you, again."

He is so warm, always—they all always are—but with the loss of the Veil, he is burning brighter still. Mariella swallows, fighting to keep her aura about her. Her own blessing seeps like mist beneath her hand. 

"Our Lightbringer," she whispers on, trapped in red-green and blood-smattered white. "Our Morning Star."

Terzo's eyes skim between hers.

He is nothing human, now, not with magic so ancient in his veins—as ancient as this place, and the markings of its wards: as wild and cosmic and suffocating. 

Oh, but he feels young. Heartbreakingly young, for the smallest instant.

A child and a Devil and a man, his heart half-beating in his hands.

"Do you accept it?"

Her Cardinal, her Papa-to-be, her Path does not smile, does not look away—not like he had before, in every babbled distraction leading up to this. And, in it, she knows—regardless of whatever his Sight may show him—that he will succeed: that the cause of this Ministry will reach heights never-before seen beneath his hand, and lay the groundwork for even greater heights in his absence.

Mariella does not shy away from his stare, though the spellwork within it threatens to pierce her through. "...Do you accept it?" she whispers, again.

Terzo blinks: green and white and human. His chest swells a slow breath beneath his vestments, ebbs into a silent sigh. "Yes."

The last confirmation. The final rite.

She smiles. "Then only the Realm waits for you."

He looks at her as though he is both lamb and executioner: waiting to be led to slaughter, and to drop the knife.

Her hand hovers before her, a silent offering. 

Slowly, skin soft-roughened and molten, he takes it.

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

17th April >> Mass Readings (USA)

Maundy Thursday - Evening Mass  and The Chrism Mass.

Maundy Thursday - Evening Mass 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).)

(These are the readings for the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper)

First Reading Exodus 12:1–8, 11–14 The law regarding the Passover meal.

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it. The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. “This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD! But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you. “This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.”

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 116:12–13, 15–16bc, 17–18

R/ Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.

How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me? The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

R/ Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.

Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones. I am your servant, the son of your handmaid; you have loosed my bonds.

R/ Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.

To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. My vows to the LORD I will pay in the presence of all his people.

R/ Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.

Second Reading 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation John 13:34

I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.

Gospel John 13:1–15 Jesus loved them to the end.

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.” So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

-------------------------------

Maundy Thursday - Chrism Mass 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I))

(These are the readings for the morning Chrism Mass)

First Reading Isaiah 61:1–3a, 6a, 8b–9 The Lord has anointed me and sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, and to give them oil of gladness.

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God, to comfort all who mourn; to place on those who mourn in Zion a diadem instead of ashes, to give them oil of gladness in place of mourning, a glorious mantle instead of a listless spirit.

You yourselves shall be named priests of the LORD, ministers of our God you shall be called.

I will give them their recompense faithfully, a lasting covenant I will make with them. Their descendants shall be renowned among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them as a race the LORD has blessed.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 89:21–22, 25 and 27

R/ For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

“I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him. That my hand may always be with him; and that my arm may make him strong.”

R/ For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

“My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him; and through my name shall his horn be exalted. He shall say of me, ‘You are my father, my God, the Rock, my savior!’”

R/ For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Second Reading Revelation 1:5–8 Christ has made us into a Kingdom, priests for his God and Father.

[Grace to you and peace] from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his Blood, who has made us into a Kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

Behold, he is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the peoples of the earth will lament him. Yes. Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation Isaiah 61:1 (cited in Luke 4:18)

The Spirit of the LORD is upon me; for he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor.

Gospel Luke 4:16–21 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because of which he has anointed me.

Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[orthodoxadventure]

Patriarch Daniel blessed the ingredients and containers in which the Holy and Great Chrism was prepared, at the Christication in the premises of the Sunday of the Romanian Saints Monastery, April 14, 2025. Photo credit: Basilica.ro / Raluca-Emanuela Ene

[modestcatholiclife]

Today is the day I've been working towards for the past year, the day of my initiation into Christ's church! Today I have been Baptised, Chrismated, and partook of my first Communion. It feels impossible to describe how I feel in this moment, knowing that I've been joined to the Body of Christ, having had my sins washed away and having been filled with the Holy Spirit. I feel so blessed for the perfect day I had today, thanks be to God!

"Participation in the life of the Most Holy Trinity becomes a reality for us through the Holy Mysteries of Baptism, Anointing with Holy Myrrh (Chrism), and Eucharist. In other words, we partake of God's life by being united to Christ, receiving the seal of the Holy Spirit, and sharing the Body and Blood of Christ in the community called Church. As a person after birth begins to breathe and then receives nourishment in order to live, so the newly baptised, born to new life in the baptismal font, begins to breathe by the Holy Spirit and receives the nourishment of Holy Communion in order to grow in Christ. Through the prayers and sacred actions of the liturgical rite of each of these Mysteries, the Church leads the faithful (the Greek Fathers speak of mystagogy - leading into the mystery) into an understanding of the Mystery and perceiving it as a single, unified action of God's grace. This why in the tradition of the Eastern Church, these three Holy Mysteries are celebrated together."

Source: 'Christ - Our Pascha', the catechism of the Ukrainian-Greek Catholic Church

[thunderheadfred]

pretty exhausted. overwhelming week. not bad, just lots to deal with. our final final house projects are getting done after a year-long loan application process, so all of our windows and doors are getting replaced, along with some electrical work. this is great, and the people doing the work are lovely. but it adds chaos

Baby was baptized this weekend at partner’s Catholic church, and we had lots of friends and family there. she slept through the shell shower and was like, arms out over the font. "BlesS ME FathEr WhoOOoOO" it was beautiful and overwhelming, and her head smelled of chrism all day after, which is maybe the best baby head huff you’re ever gonna get. She’s tuckered out and fussy today, which is no surprise after meeting her cousins and great grandma and aunties and uncles and having a whole party with baby jeebus

anyway yeah. then there’s the whole... election business. god can it be over please

[chicoinematt7]

Catholic Meme Monday— Issue 133

Hope you had a Blessed Feast of the Most Holy Trinity!! Time for another Catholic Meme Monday. So many reasons! And at least two dozen Rosaries. 🙏 I’ve been looking forward to Corpus Christi for a while. 🍞🍷🙏 😅😅😅 🙂😅🍕🙏 You can never have enough theology books. 😅😅😅 A statue of the blessed Virgin Mary or sacred chrism. As a Catholic Marvel fan I had to include this gem. 🕷️🕸️🙂 Amen! To…

[friendlyneighborhoodmadscientist]

So, odd note in the first post but “chrisms” might not have been a typo. Might have been, without context I can’t say more, but chrism is the scented and blessed oil used in Catholic baptisms (and maybe other Christian denominations, I wouldn’t know)

A few of the more creative spellings of Christmas I’ve come across while looking for Dear Santa letters in old newspapers this year.

[libidomechanica]

Thee movest underground us one for breathes of

Gone torturing there upon Design,     he turn’d; for every virtuous courted: wha spied I     but my faith doth hold on

her saddle, the next to master!     I was absent from ferule and in faire left in me     is in thighs; false in love.

And on her dying vext with might     have give a dole of love you as I love! And save, should fan     offerd, Strength, and I may,

and thaw, and satisfy my sorrow     lends but she. Whereby his assemble? Thee movest     underground us one for

breathes of all I my offer white     thou bee associated wings, tho’ the tumultuous,—     and, in ghastly detestable

to his own mouth in the     exactly four man on hand thy face of Sage and teaches     on Orcas Island of

fore-bemoaned moan alley’s end where     was heart which, though we dare the less for years to the caught upon     the roof-tree lay dying

its grosser sense, the earth was     a boy’s? Or such as then ryse ye blessing and other look     up and grew faint rainbow.

Your kids will with the churches therefore     if the stole into gold? His cause it in two. The simple     tale passed perhaps you

could given you ten years after     I found his Eyes, in the wanting. Flung defiance which began     to slaye within your

claims as right, breaking hastily.     But their chrism is one by a poor cottage in ice, not know     wants weighed, but far below,

that art can one another’s sin:     I am the day. I see she neither’s door of human     passions, fear, let’s lie buried.

That spark can be good truth saue     this, that earlier page. Were were hammer or summer, from     honest snatch out for

everywhere, be happiness, to     dissolute boy for a mantel- piece … there’s than were I hear     away from thee, to the

wakeful eyes are wide opening     rise like a doubled him name is it doth impart. Two     days gone with poynt of myrtle;

a gown made purple blossom,     ah, his, the longer envying they may the beds of thyself     I’ll sighs and the old God

of such as the same: new no better,     I could still the Cheeks like what colors is it?; Saying     sweet sake to gold and so

I could read a fold him a year     to need the toiled in the past bound castle he met your son,     if I had a husband.

[allinlist]

Holy Week

Last Sunday marks the start of Holy Week. The failure to commemorate Holy Week had been to our personal detriment. We’re missing out on celebrating the most significant events in the human history, and we’re also missing out on comprehending what those events will mean for our salvation and for all of us. So, if you wish to gather the sense of joy that the followers had when they had understood that Jesus rise from the dead during the first Easter Sunday, and then go with them by the sorrow, pain, darkness, fear, and confusion of that Thursday, Good Friday, and Saturday.

For us to be reminded of the importance of these days, here are the brief explanations of what is celebrated and commemorated on Palm Sunday, on Maundy Thursday, on Good Friday, on Holy Saturday, and on Easter Sunday.

What’s Holy Week?

The Holy Week is one important week for Christians all throughout the world. The Holy Week is the last week of Lent, starts on Palm Sunday and this is the Sunday just before Easter. The Holy Week is the time when the Catholics gathered to remember and to participate in Passion of Jesus Christ. This Passion was the last period of the life of Christ in Jerusalem. It spanned from when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem up to when He had been crucified.

How Are Catholics Celebrating Holy Week?

There are four special ceremonies to commemorate the events about the Passion of Christ from His coming to Jerusalem, when the palm branches were positioned in His path, by His arrest during Holy Thursday and the Crucifixion during Good Friday, up to Holy Saturday, that day that the body of Christ lay at the tomb.

The peak of Liturgical Year is Easter Triduum—from an evening of the Holy Thursday to an evening of the Easter Sunday. Although chronologically in three days they’re liturgically a day unfolding to us the union of Christ Paschal Mystery. A solo Triduum celebration marks the finale of the season of Lent and guides to the Resurrection Mass of our Lord during Easter Vigil.

Liturgical services that will take place during Triduum are:

• Mass of the Lord Supper •Good Friday of the Lord Passion •Mass of Resurrection of our Lord

Palm Sunday

It recalls Jesus’ coming in Jerusalem. The Palm Sunday is famous as such due to the faithful will taken palm fronds that are use in participating during the reenactment of the arrival of Christ in Jerusalem with the procession. While in the Gospel, Jesus come to Jerusalem riding in a donkey to those townspeople praises who laid small branches or palms, fronting him as the sign of homage. It was the customary practice for those people of great esteem.

Maundy Thursday

It commemorates the final or the Last Supper, when Christ Jesus consecrated wine and bread. During the morning, the bishops normally gather with the priests from their own diocese for Chrism Mass or the day close to the Holy Week that will work best for Archdiocese. This Chrism Mass for Seattle Archdiocese had been celebrated on 11th of April, 2019. They bless the holy oils during their Mass. The feet washing took place during Mass of the Lord Supper at night.

Good Friday

This is one of those darkest days for Catholics. It will cover the arrest, trial, and the crucifixion of Jesus. His death and his burial are memorialized also. The events during Good Friday are remembered during Stations of the Cross, the 14-step devotion, habitually prayed during Lent season and especially during Good Friday. The Living Stations may be prayed during 9:30 in the morning. The Stations of the Cross can then be prayed during 3:00 in the afternoon.

Good Friday is the fasting day within the Church. Normally, there is no celebration and no Mass of the Eucharist during Good Friday. The communion comes from the hosts consecrated during Holy Thursday. The Church bells are not rang or silent and the Altars are left empty. The muted, solemn atmosphere is then preserved until Easter Vigil.

The Holy Saturday

It remembers the day that Jesus spent while at the grave resting. Easter Vigil took place during the end of a day at 8:30 in the evening since the latest liturgical day starts at sunset, and the vigil starts at sunset during Holy Saturday when outside the church, wherein the Easter fire has been kindled and Paschal candle has been blessed and then will be lit. The Paschal candle may be used throughout that Easter season, remaining during the sanctuary of church and all throughout the coming rime at baptisms and at funerals, reminding everybody that Christ will be our light and life.

After the finale of Liturgy of the Word, that water of baptismal font will be solemnly blessed and candidates for total communion or any catechumens are initiated to the church.

What’s the Noticeable Alterations in the Church for the Holy Week?

During Good Friday and also Holy Saturday, noticeable alterations will take place in a manner churches are decorated. There are lots of churches, particularly in Europe, cross and statues are covered in black or purple or simply take out the decor. Holy water has been taken out from the church also and the church bells and Holy Saturday remain silent until Gloria during Easter Vigil.

[theologyforthelayman]

Archbishop Broglio Consecrates and Blesses Sacramental Oils at Chrism Mass

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Monday evening, March 18, His Excellency, the Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, J.C.D., Archbishop for the Military Services, USA, and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), blessed and consecrated sacred oils for sacramental use over the coming year in Catholic communities on U.S. Military sites worldwide, and in the nation’s VA Medical…

[revelisms]

Another preview of a purification WIP I've been tinkering with, which continues the magic ministry AU I've been slowly pulling together. This follows Terzo's transition from Cardinal to Papa through the eyes of Mariella, a priestess in training 📿

The water envelops her steps with pinpricks of sensation, slow-slipped and glittering. It calls to her, sings to her: a vessel of endless possibility.

This is her Path. Her purpose. Her home.

Behind her, soon to be, her liege.  

She can hear his footsteps trailing the shadows of her own, his vestments a silken hiss off the water's edge. As it had for his predecessor before him, the cistern hums in its greeting: a millennia of lifetimes past stirred to welcome the presence of the Unholy, of its Keeper.

Hellfire bathes them with red. It sets an eerie glow to his undead eye, blistered in white and gold. For a breath, it's hard to remember that he is human, at all: that the light hasn't stained his skin in blood, taloned his nails with black, twisted his robes to wings claw-tipped and leather-thin.

At the basin, she pauses. He falls still with her—staring down, down at the ebbing coil of waters they come to stand beside.

His throat ripples. He sets his jaw, the dark lines of his lashes lifting. Mariella holds his stare like a rabbit eyeing a wolf from the weeds; like a cub before a lion.

"You've greeted me in the Olde Way," she says quietly, "and, by Lilith's blessing, will be Renamed. Do you accept it?"

Terzo takes in a breath, nods. "Yes."

"To be the Gate's ward, now and forevermore, until you are called?"

"Yes," he says again.

"To be bound to your summoned, and your summoned only, until they are reclaimed?"

There's a forced calmness to his face, though she can sense the frustration beneath it: proof of battles she has not been privy to, and may never be. "Yes."

"Then we will begin."

First are the black candles—twin flames lit to represent the handed paths. She sets them on the footholds of the two pillars closest, crafting the symbolic Gate between realms, and speaks a low incantation. Then comes the oils, their vials a cold sting against her hands. Each mixture is strategically placed: drops of mugwort to his slow-lifted palms, a thumb-kiss of amber to each temple, the Chrism dotted at the crown of his head.

She can smell his magic, this close: awakened, shivering, unbound: the ashen smoke of a snuffed flame and the sweet tang of clove, spiked with a metallic edge. It leaves her head heavy, her hands sluggish. There is Future on his breath, and Death in his eye. Beneath his robes, inked across the branches of his heartlines, a glimmer of snapdragon pink.

She fights to ground herself, for a moment. Her palm lays slow, slow upon his breast: feels the power in him straining at the seams.

"Astraeus—Nyx—Perun. These names have adorned you, before. With your Awakening, they will adorn you, again." He is so warm, always—they all always are—but with the loss of the Veil, he is burning brighter still. Mariella swallows, her own blessing seeping like mist beneath her hand. Carefully, she pulls herself free. "Our Lightbringer," she whispers on, trapped in red-green and blood-smattered white. "Our Morning Star."

Terzo's eyes skim between hers. He is nothing human, now, not with magic so ancient in his veins—as ancient as this place, and the markings of its wards: as wild and cosmic and suffocating.

Oh, but he feels young. Heartbreakingly young, for the smallest instant.

A child and a Devil and a man, his heart half-beating in his hands.

"Do you accept it?"

Her Cardinal, her Papa-to-be, her Path does not smile, does not look away. Not like he had before, in every babbled distraction leading up to this. And, in it, she knows—regardless of whatever his Sight may show him—that he will succeed: that the cause of this Ministry will reach heights never-before seen beneath his hand, and lay the groundwork for even greater heights in his absence.

Mariella does not shy away from his stare, though the spellwork within it threatens to pierce her through. "...Do you accept it?" she whispers again.

Terzo blinks: green and white and human. His chest swells a slow breath beneath his vestments, ebbs into a silent sigh. "Yes."

The last confirmation. The final rite.

She smiles. "Then only the Realm waits for you."

He looks at her as though he is both lamb and executioner: waiting to be led to slaughter, and to drop the knife.

Her hand hovers before her, a silent offering. 

Slowly, skin soft-roughened and molten, he takes it.